OASIS IN THE BADLANDS

This classic Curtis image was made in the heart of the Bad Lands of South Dakota. The subject is Red Hawk who was born 1854 and was a fierce warrior who ultimately engaged in 20 battles, including the Custer fight in 1876. This lyrical image is widely considered to be Curtis’ most important and beautiful Great Plains peopled landscape. Curtis loved the visual and metaphorical qualities of water, and the goldtone, more than any other photographic medium, conveys the beauty of water as an aesthetic element. The compelling composition and subject matter have helped keep this, one of Curtis’ most sought after images compelling nearly one hundred years after it was made.

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​Edward S. Curtis, in full Edward Sheriff Curtis, (born February 16, 1868, near Whitewater, Wisconsin, U.S.—died October 19, 1952, Los Angeles, California), American photographer and chronicler of Native American peoples whose work perpetuated an influential image of Indians as a “vanishing race.” The monumental The North American Indian (1907–30), published under his name, constitutes a major compendium of photographic and anthropological material about those indigenous peoples of the trans-Mississippi West who, as Curtis stated in his preface, “still retained to a considerable degree their primitive customs and traditions.”